How Many Letter Tiles Are in Scrabble? How Many Letter Tiles Are in Scrabble? By Erik Arneson Updated September 28, 2016. Scrabble is the most popular word game ever published. This is part of our Scrabble FAQ . There are exactly 100 tiles in Scrabble, distributed this way (read more about Scrabble's tile distribution ): Blank/Wild: 2 tiles Scrabble Rules | Official Word Game Rules | Board Games Scoring You should have a game board, 100 letter tiles, a letter bag, and four racks. Before the game begins, all players should agree upon the dictionary that they will use, in case of a challenge. All words labeled as a part of speech (including those listed of foreign origin, and as archaic, obsolete, colloquial, slang, etc.) are permitted with the exception of the following: words always capitalized, abbreviations, prefixes and suffixes standing alone, words requiring a hyphen or an apostrophe. Place all letters in the pouch, or facedown beside the board, and mix them up. Draw for first play. The player with the letter closest to "A" plays first. A blank tile beats any letter.

Return the letters to the pool and remix. All players draw seven new letters and place them on their racks. #1 The first player combines two or more of his or her letters to form a word and places it on the board to read either across or down with one letter on the center square. Diagonal words are not allowed. #2 Complete your turn by counting and announcing your score for that turn. Then draw as many new letters as you played; always keep seven letters on your rack, as long as there are enough tiles left in the bag. #3 Play passes to the left. The second player, and then each in turn, adds one or more letters to those already played to form new words. All letters played on a turn must be placed in one row across or down the board, to form at least one complete word. If, at the same time, they touch others letters in adjacent rows, those must also form complete words, crossword fashion, with all such letters. The player gets full credit for all words formed or modified on his or her turn. #4 New words may be formed by: Adding one or more letters to a word or letters already on the board. Placing a word at right angles to a word already on the board.

The new word must use one of the letters already on the board or must add a letter to it. (See Turns 2, 3 and 4 below.) Placing a complete word parallel to a word already played so that adjacent letters also form complete words. (See Turn 5 in the Scoring Examples section below.) #5 No tile may be shifted or replaced after it has been played and scored. #6 Blanks: The two blank tiles may be used as any letters. When playing a blank, you must state which letter it represents. It remains that letter for the rest of the game. #7 You may use a turn to exchange all, some, or none of the letters. To do this, place your discarded letter(s) facedown. Draw the same number of letters from the pool, then mix your discarded letter(s) into the pool. This ends your turn. #8 Any play may be challenged before the next player starts a turn. If the play challenged is unacceptable, the challenged player takes back his or her tiles and loses that turn. If the play challenged is acceptable, the challenger loses his or her next turn. Consult the dictionary for challenges only. All words made in one play are challenged simultaneously.

If any word is unacceptable, then the entire play is unacceptable. Only one turn is lost on any challenge. #9 The game ends when all letters have been drawn and one player uses his or her last letter; or when all possible plays have been made. #1 Use a score pad or piece of paper to keep a tally of each player's score, entering it after each turn. The score value of each letter is indicated by a number at the bottom of the tile. The score value of a blank is zero. #2 The score for each turn is the sum of the letter values in each word(s) formed or modified on that turn, plus the additional points obtained from placing letters on Premium Squares. #3 Premium Letter Squares: A light blue square doubles the score of a letter placed on it; a dark blue square triples the letter score. #4 Premium Word Squares: The score for an entire word is doubled when one of its letters is placed on a pink square: it is tripled when one of its letters is placed on a red square. Include premiums for double or triple letter values, if any, before doubling or tripling the word score.

If a word is formed that covers two premium word squares, the score is doubled and then re-doubled (4 times the letter count), or tripled and then re-tripled (9 times the letter count). NOTE: the center square is a pink square, which doubles the score for the first word. #5 Letter and word premiums count only on the turn in which they are played. On later turns, letters already played on premium squares count at face value. #6 When a blank tile is played on a pink or red square, the value of the word is doubled or tripled, even though the blank itself has no score value. #7 When two or more words are formed in the same play, each is scored. The common letter is counted (with full premium value, if any) for each word. (See Turns 3, 4 and 5 in the Scoring Examples section.) #8 BINGO! If you play seven tiles on a turn, it's a Bingo. You score a premium of 50 points after totaling your score for the turn. #9 Unplayed Letters: When the game ends, each player's score is reduced by the sum of his or her unplayed letters.

In addition, if a player has used all of his or her letters, the sum of the other players' unplayed letters is added to that player's score. #10 The player with the highest final score wins the game. In case of a tie, the player with the highest score before adding or deducting unplayed letters wins. Scoring Examples In the following, the words added on five successive turns are shown in bold type. The scores shown are the correct scores if the letter R is placed on the center square. In Turn 1, count HORN: in Turn 2, FARM; in Turn 3, PASTE and FARMS; in Turn 4, MOB, NOT and BE; in Turn 5, BIT, PI and AT. Got Questions? The Official Rules of Scrabble - How to Play Scrabble - Learn Scrabble Rules How to Play Scrabble Travel Scrabble Scrabble Rules - Scrabble Official Rules When playing Scrabble, anywhere from two to four players will enjoy the game. The object when playing is to score more points than other players. As words are placed on the game board, points are collected and each letter that is used in the game will have a different point value.

The main strategy is to play words that have the highest possible score based on the combination of letters. The Scrabble Board A standard Scrabble board will consist of cells that are located in a large square grid. The board offers 15 cells high and 15 cells wide. The tiles used on the game will fit in each cell on the board. Scrabble Tiles There are 100 tiles that are used in the game and 98 of them will contain letters and point values. There are 2 blank tiles that can be used as wild tiles to take the place of any letter. When a blank is played, it will remain in the game as the letter it substituted for. Different letters in the game will have various point values and this will depend on how rare the letter is and how difficult it may be to lay that letter. Blank tiles will have no point values. Tile Values Below are the point values for each letter that is used in a Scrabble game. 0 Points - Blank tile. 1 Point - A, E, I, L, N, O, R, S, T and U. 2 Points - D and G. 3 Points - B, C, M and P.

4 Points - F, H, V, W and Y. 5 Points - K. 8 Points - J and X. 10 Points - Q and Z. Extra Point Values When looking at the board, players will see that some squares offer multipliers. Should a tile be placed on these squares, the value of the tile will be multiplied by 2x or 3x. Some squares will also multiply the total value of the word and not just the single point value of one tile. Double Letter Scores - The light blue cells in the board are isolated and when these are used, they will double the value of the tile placed on that square. Triple Letter Score - The dark blue cell in the board will be worth triple the amount, so any tile placed here will earn more points. Double Word Score - When a cell is light red in colour, it is a double word cell and these run diagonally on the board, towards the four corners. When a word is placed on these squares, the entire value of the word will be doubled. Triple Word Score - The dark red square is where the high points can be earned as this will triple the word score. Placing any word on these squares will boos points drastically.

These are found on all four sides of the board and are equidistant from the corners. One Single Use - When using the extra point squares on the board, they can only be used one time. If a player places a word here, it cannot be used as a multiplier by placing another word on the same square. Starting the Game Without looking at any of the tiles in the bag, players will take one tile. The player that has the letter that is closest to “A” will begin the game. A blank tile will win the start of the game. The tiles are them replaced to the bag and used in the remainder of the game. Every player will start their turn by drawing seven tiles from the Scrabble bag. There are three options during any turn. The player can place a word, they can exchange tiles for new tiles or they can choose to pass. In most cases, players will try to place a word as the other two options will result in no score. When a player chooses to exchange tiles, they can choose to exchange one or all of the tiles they currently hold. After tiles are exchanged, the turn is over and players will have to wait until their next turn to place a word on the board.

Players can choose to pass at any time. They will forfeit that turn and hope to be able to play the next time. If any player passes two times in a row, the game will end and the one with the highest score will win. The First Word Score When the game begins, the first player will place their word on the star spin in the centre of the board. The star is a double square and will offer a double word score. All players following will build their words off of this word, extending the game to other squares on the board. Play continues in a clockwise direction around the Scrabble board. Replacing Scrabble Tiles Once tiles are played on the board, players will draw new tiles to replace those. Players will always have seven tiles during the game. Drawing tiles is always done without looking into the bag so that the letters are always unknown. The Fifty Point Bonus Exciting rewards can come when players use all seven tiles to create a word on the board. When this happens, players will receive a 50 point bonus, in addition to the value of the word. If the game is near the end and players are not holding seven tiles, they do not get the bonus for using all of their tiles.

This is only collected for seven letter words placed. The End of a Scrabble Game Once all tiles are gone from the bag and a single player has placed all of their tiles, the game will end and the player with the highest score wins. Tallying Scrabble Scores When the game ends, each player will count all points that are remaining on their tiles that have not been played. This amount will be deducted from the final score. An added bonus is awarded to the player that ended the game and has no remaining tiles. The tile values of all remaining players will be added to the score of the player who is out of tiles to produce the final score for the game. The Scrabble player with the highest score after all final scores are tallied wins. Accepted Scrabble Words Any word that is found in a standard English dictionary can be used in the game of Scrabble. There are also Official Scrabble Dictionaries that can be purchased for more word options. There are some words that are not allowed to be played and these include suffixes, prefixes and abbreviations. Any word that requires the use of a hyphen or apostrophe cannot be played in the game. Any word that required the use of a capital letter is not allowed.

When playing an English version of the game, foreign words are not allowed to be placed on the board. However, if the foreign word does appear in a standard English dictionary, it is allowed. The reason for this is due to the fact that the word is spoken enough and is considered part of the English language. This website is intended for information and entertainment purposes only. We are in no way affiliated with the SCRABBLE® brand and registered trademark. These intellectual property rights belong to Hasbro, Inc. in which we are not affiliated. © Copyright 2016, Scrabble Pages . All rights reserved How to Manage a Rack in Scrabble: 14 Steps (with Pictures) Creating Words 1 Rearrange your tiles on your rack. Much of rack management in Scrabble is based on the ability to create anagrams, that is, to rearrange the order of the letters on your rack into meaningful words. You may find it helpful to move the tiles around on your rack until you see a word that you recognize. As you play the game more often, you'll develop the ability to rearrange the letters in your head. When rearranging tiles, it helps to place the tiles where they often appear in words.

For example, letters like F and J are more likely to appear at the beginnings of words, so place them on the left side of your rack. But letters like S and Y are more likely to appear at the end of words, so place them on the right side of your rack. 2 Watch for common prefixes and suffixes. Many words are formed by adding either a prefix to the beginning of the root word or a suffix to the end of the root word to change its meaning, tense, or part of speech. By recognizing these prefixes and suffixes when their letters appear on your rack, you can begin to make meaningful words out of the string of letters in front of you. [1] Common prefixes: Common prefixes include DIS-, RE-, UN-, IN-, OUT-, OVER-, and ANTI-. Common suffixes: Common suffixes include -S, -ES, -ED, -ING, -LY, -IER, -IEST, and other superlatives. 3 Look for other common letter combinations. Identifying common letter combinations like CH, ST, SH, QU, LY, TH, etc. can also help you find words using the tiles on your rack.

If you can't make a word that uses these combinations right away, you may want to hold onto the letters until the opportunity to play them arises. 4 Familiarize yourself with common compound words. As you start to recognize common letter combinations used in words, you'll eventually start to recognize entire words on your rack. The next step is to start putting small words together into compound words, either with two words found on your rack or with a word on your rack and a word already on the board. For example, if you can find both LOW and DOWN in the letters your rack (with a separate W for each word), you can make the compound word LOWDOWN. Or, if the word HEAD is on the board, you can turn it into GODHEAD or BULKHEAD if you have the appropriate tiles on your rack and there are enough free spaces ahead of the H. Related to this skill is the ability to recognize words within words. With some practice and the right letter tiles, you can expand PRAISE into APPRAISER or LIST into ENLISTEE, possibly even using both triple-word spaces at once. 5 Strike a balance.

Learn to balance the score of the letters you play against the quality of tiles remaining on your rack and prospective words that can be made using the letters you play. As you start becoming more familiar with the words you can make in Scrabble, you need to start evaluating how well you can continue to make good plays while preventing your opponents from making major plays on your words. Some Scrabble players prefer to emphasize improving the selection of tiles on their racks through strategic play, while other players rely more on the layout of letters on the board. Whichever style of play you prefer, it helps to keep track of how many of each letter have been played and how many are left. If 11 of the 12 E tiles have been played and you have the last one, you may want to hang onto it to give yourself better options. This is especially applicable when holding the S or the blank, which can allow you a big score or a bingo on future turns. Method Getting High Scores 1 Know when and how many tiles to exchange. Knowing when and how many tiles to exchange can help to maximize your score.

If you can't make a word out of the tiles you have, you can exchange any or all of them for new tiles, at the cost of your turn. [2] When exchanging tiles in the early game, you'll want to exchange as many tiles as you can to try to get an S or a blank. In the middle of the game, you'll want to hold onto to a medium or high-scoring tile to have a better chance of making a high-scoring word. Near the end of the game, you'll want to discard high-scoring tiles unless you see places on the board you can play them with the right additional letters. 2 Learn which letters are more likely to appear in bonus words. The distribution and point value of Scrabble tiles are based on the relative frequency of each letter's appearance in English language words. Thus, the more common the letter, the more likely it will appear in a 7-letter word or can be played in a word that will earn double or triple word score value. [3] Hold on to the more common vowels and consonants for later and play the less common ones early on. The most common vowels, in order, are E, A, I, O, and U.

The most common consonants, in order, are S, R, T, N, L, D, G, C, B, M, P, H, F, Y, V, W, K, X, J, Z, and Q. Be aware that the above lists are influenced by what other letters you have on your rack. For instance, if you have an C on your rack, you'll want to hold onto an H rather than a G, since CH is a good letter combination while CG is not. Note that not all expert Scrabble players agree on the letter rankings shown above. Also keep in mind that letters that haven't been played will influence which tiles you should hold on to and which you should play. You'll want to keep track of the number of U tiles and hold on to yours if you see the Q tile hasn't been played (and also memorize Q words that don't use the U, such as QI and QAT). 3 Hang onto your blanks. The blank is universally considered to be the strongest tile in Scrabble because of its ability to score and form a bingo.

(If you have both blanks, you have an 80 percent chance of making a bingo word.) 4 Keep a good mix of vowels and consonants. Strive to have a mix of vowels and consonants at all times, but your rack should favor consonants over vowels. Try to have 4 consonants to 3 vowels or 5 consonants to 2 vowels. This makeup will make it easier for you to form words that will score bonuses on the board or allow you to play all of your tiles at once. [4] If your rack has 6 vowels and only 1 consonant, you should look to play at least 3 of those vowels on your next turn. You can improve your ability to keep a good mix of vowels and consonants by memorizing vowel-rich 4-letter words such as AEON, AIDE, and AREA and 5-letter words such as AERIE, AUDIO, and QUEUE. 5 Play high-scoring tiles as soon as you can. It's generally best to play letters such as J, Q, X, and Z as soon as you can play them to your best advantage.

[5] You may want to hold them a few turns in hope of being able to play them on a premium letter space or in a word that counts for double or triple points, but this opportunity will decline as more tiles are placed on the board. Near the end, it may be better to play the letter off than risk getting caught with it. Also, the low scoring tiles are more likely to be found in longer words than in shorter ones. Lean towards playing off high point tiles like the B, F, W, and Y quickly to open up more possibilities for making words with 1- and 2-point letter tiles. Also, note that late in the game, the Q (especially without the U) can be as difficult to play since very few short words contain the Q. You can remember which tiles are the 1- and 2-point letters with the word DEREGULATIONS, which contains all the letters with those point values. 6 Play away the duplicate letters on your rack. Common double-letter combinations such as EE, FF, MM, PP, and TT are more likely to appear in words than are AA, CC, HH, II, UU, and VV.

If you have two or more of these less common repeated letters, play the duplicates as soon as you can. [6] 7 Learn the most common 7-letter words in Scrabble. It is possible, though rare, to draw seven tiles at once that form a word. The most likely such word, based on the frequency of its letters in Scrabble, is ANEROID, meaning "without liquid," as in an aneroid barometer. Some other words that you can form by playing seven tiles at once include ETESIAN, ISATINE, INOSITE, ATONIES, and ERASION. In most cases, you'll only be able to play a 7-letter word if you're the first player to play in the first round. Some of these 7-letter words take an -S plural, however, so you may be able to play them on an open S if there are seven open spaces above or to the left of the S played on an existing word. 8 Look for letter combinations that can be built into bingos. Some letter combinations not only make recognizable short words, but you can find them in longer words.

You can find the letters in REST and TRAIN in bingos such as URANITE, SOOTIER, and STOURIE. The strongest 6-letter combination is the word TISANE, which can form a seven letter word with any letter other than the Q or Y. Look for letter combinations within your rack and in places on the board where you can use all of the letters on your rack to form an 8-, 9-, or even 10-letter word. 9 Create words from individual letters instead of trying to force certain words. It may be difficult to figure out bingo words, or even meaningful words, from the letters on your rack. Sometimes, the best approach is to brainstorm words that include a few of the tiles on your rack and then see how many of the other letters are present, either on the rack or the board. You may need to close your eyes or look away from the board for a moment to do this. Community Q&A If this question (or a similar one) is answered twice in this section, please click here to let us know. Tips To play Scrabble well, you should develop a large working vocabulary.

Some Scrabble players memorize word lists, but these players are usually those who play the game competitively in tournaments. For casual Scrabble players, it's usually better to develop a good vocabulary through more general study and with the purpose of applying it to other activities, such as writing, and for playing in other word games, such as crossword puzzles, Boggle, Jumble, Scattergories, and You've Been Sentenced. You can also play Scrabble solitaire. Most of the advice given above will also apply to the Scrabble: Mega Edition version produced by Winning Moves, as well as the original game now produced by Hasbro. The Winning Moves version differs from the original game in that it has a larger game board (21 x 21 as opposed to the 15 x 15 board of the original game) and double the number of tiles (200 as opposed to 100), but the same letter distribution as the original. Some of the advice in the steps given above can also be applied to similar word games, such as the Facebook application Lexulous or James Ernest Games' Unspeakable Words.

Lexulous differs from Scrabble in that players have 8-tile racks instead of 7-tile racks. Unspeakable Words differs from Scrabble in that there is no game board, players use cards instead of tiles, players cannot build on others' words, and letters score based on the number of angles in the letter. Keeping Score in Scrabble - Letter Tiles and Point Values How to Keep Score in Scrabble Keeping Score in Scrabble Knowing how to keep score in Scrabble is simple, but it’s also important. Each letter in Scrabble has its own value, while certain points on a Scrabble board are worth more points than others. Finally, there are a few special circumstances where Scrabble scoring differs than in other points of the game. Scrabble Letter Tiles – Point Values Below is a table showing the point values of each tile in Scrabble. I’ll include a table to show how many of each letter exists in a standard Scrabble game, as well. When you play one of these letter tiles on the Scrabble board, you get the point value indicated on the letter tile.

Scrabble Point Distribution A – E – I – O – - U – L – N – R – S – T = 1 point D – G = 2 points B – C – M – P = 3 points F – H – W – Y – V = 4 points K = 5 points J – X = 8 points Q – Z = 10 points The following table shows how many of each letters there are in a standard game of Scrabble. In all, there are 100 tiles to play in any given Scrabble game. Scrabble Letter Distribution 1: J – K – X – Q – Z 2: B – C – F – H – M – P – W – Y – V – Blank Tiles 3: G 4: D – L – S – U 6: N – R – T 10: E Double and Triple Scores When any of the letters of a word you place on the board covers a double or triple score, apply that modifier to your word score. If it’s a double or triple letter score, only modify the score for the letter on that tile.

If it’s a double or triple word score, add up the score for all the tiles and then multiply the amount by the modifier. If you happen to cross two or more modifiers with your word, apply all of them. If you cross a triple letter score and a double word score, then multiple the triple score letter by x3 and then multiple the whole word score by x2. If you happen to cross two word multipliers, then remember to multiple the word score by both values. In this way, scores can reach large numbers. There is a limiting factor to the scores made by these tiles, though. That’s because, once used, these tiles can’t be reused for the purposes of multipliers. Reusing Double and Triple Scores After a double-word or triple-word score has been used and figured, that space will not be worth a double- or triple-word score again in the game. The same goes for double-letter and triple-letter scores. For example, imagine that a letter tile saying double-word score, like the one you play off of at the beginning of the game, is “activated” at the beginning of the game. Whoever plays off that tile first gets a double-word score.

But the next player who builds a word off that same letter does not get a double-word score. This rule is there for several purposes, but it keeps people from simply beating opponents by playing an -s or -ed or -ing at the end of words on the board. You can still do so, but you won’t score as many points (or more) if the original word played involved double- or triple-word scoring. 50 Point Bonus If at any time, you use all 7 tiles in your rack one on play, you get an automatic 50 point bonus. This does not apply in the endgame scenario when you have less than 7 letters on your rack, of course. Final Scores in Scrabble Who “goes out” also has a big affect on the score. Eventually, the letter tiles will run out. When this happens, you will have a dwindling number of letter tiles on your rack. When this happens, the first person to get rid of all the letters on their rack on their turn “goes out”. The scoring is not yet finished, though. Every player with letters should add up the point values of those letters. These players should subtract that letter amount from their score.

Once this is done, the point value for all those letters should also be added up collectively and added to the score of the person who “went out” or got rid of all their letter tiles first. In this way, the winner of a Scrabble game is often determined by who goes out first. This can be forgotten or only half-applied with new Scrabble players, so knowing how to score correctly in Scrabble is important. How to Play Scrabble (with Pictures) - wikiHow Preparing to Play 1 Make sure that you have everything you need to play Scrabble. Before you begin your game, make sure that you have everything that you need to play Scrabble. You will need a game board, 100 letter tiles, one letter rack for each player, and a cloth bag to hold the letter tiles. You will also need 1-3 other people to play with. [1] 2 Choose a dictionary to use for challenges. It is possible that during the course of your game, someone will play a word that another play believes is spelled wrong or that is not a word at all. In a situation like this, you will need to look up the word in a dictionary.

Make sure that you have a dictionary on hand to deal with challenges. [2] 3 Put letter tiles in the bag and shake them up. To make sure that the letters are mixed up, put them into the bag, close it, and shake them around a bit. If you don’t have a bag to use, you can put all of the letters face down on the table and shuffle them. [3] 4 Determine who goes first. Pass the bag around the table and allow each player to draw one letter tile. Then, place your letter tiles face up on the table. The player with the letter that is closest to the letter “A” gets to go first. Put these letters back into the bag and shuffle them again before drawing tiles. [4] 5 Draw your tiles. Beginning with the player who got the letter closest to “A”, pass the tile bag around and have each player draw seven tiles without looking into the bag. Do not show these tiles to your fellow players. Just put them onto your tile rack and pass the bag to the next player until everyone has drawn their letters. [5] Part 2 Playing the Game 1 Play the first word.

The player who chose the letter closest to “A” gets to play the first word. The word must use at least two tiles and it must be placed across the star square in the center of the board. The word can be laid out in a vertical or horizontal fashion, but it cannot be diagonal. When calculating the first word score, keep in mind that the player who places the first word gets to double his or her total score because the star counts as a Premium Square with a double word bonus. For example, if the total value of the first word played was 8, then the player would receive a score of 16. [6] 2 Count up your points. After you have put down a word, make sure that you count up your points. Add up the points on the upper right hand corner of each of the tiles you laid down. If you placed a tile on a Premium Square, adjust your score as indicated by the Premium Square. [7] For example, if you place a word over a square that says “Double Word” on it, then you should double the total value of your word.

If you place a tile over a square that says “Double Letter”, then you should double the value of that letter tile only when you calculate your score. 3 Draw new tiles. After each of your turns, you will need to draw as many new tiles as you just played. For example, if you played three of your tiles to form a word during your turn, then you need to draw three new tiles at the end of your turn. Place these new tiles on your rack and pass the bag to the next player. [8] 4 Build on other players’ words. On your next turn, you will have to add onto the words that your opponents have just played. That means that you cannot just create a freestanding word on the board, all of the tiles must be connected. As you build onto the words that your opponents have played, make sure that you consider all of the connected tiles. Your addition to the board must create at least one new word, but if you connect to other tiles, from other directions, then you need to make sure that you are creating valid words with these connections. [9] 5 Use your tiles to get the highest score possible per turn.

It is a good idea to consider multiple plays during each of your turns and to go with the play that will gain you the most points. Look for opportunities to incorporate Premium Squares and high value letters like “Z” and “Q” into your plays. [10] Available Premium Squares include: Double Letter Score: This means that a letter placed on this square receives double the number of points that are shown on the letter. Double Word Score: This means that a word that is made that includes the letter that is placed on this square receives double the number of points that it otherwise would. Triple Letter Score: This means that a letter placed on this square receives three times the number of points that are shown on the letter. Triple Word Score: This means that a word that is made that includes the letter that is placed on this square receives triple the number of points that it otherwise would. 6 Challenge other players to dispute a word. If you think that a player has played a word that does not exist or that another player has misspelled a word, then you can challenge that player. When you challenge a player, you look up the word in the dictionary.

[11] If the word is in the dictionary and the player has spelled it correctly, then the word stays and the player gets the points. The challenger loses his or her turn. If the word is not in the dictionary or the player has spelled it incorrectly, then the player must remove the word from the board. The player gains no points and loses that turn. 7 Exchange tiles you don’t want. At some point during the game, you may decide that you want to exchange some or all of your tiles for new ones. You can use a turn to get new tiles. Just discard the tiles that you no longer want into the bag, shuffle the bag and draw the number of tiles that you discarded. Just keep in mind that you cannot play a word in addition to drawing new tiles, this will count as your turn. [12] Part 3 Scoring 1 Keep score as you go. It is important to keep a careful tally of each player’s scores as you play. Each player should announce his or her score after adding it up and then the score keeper should write it down right away. [13] 2 Watch for Premium Score squares.

Premium Squares will alter your word scores, so pay attention to these when you play words. You can only use the bonus from a Premium Square if you laid the tile over that square during the current turn. You cannot incorporate bonuses from Premium Squares that you already counted in a different turn or that were counted by a different player. [14] When adding the bonuses for plays with multiple Premium Squares, add the letter bonuses in before the word bonuses. For example, if you spell a word that has a double letter bonus and a triple word bonus, add the double letter bonus to your total before multiplying the total by three. 3 Get 50 points added to your word score if you get a BINGO. A BINGO is when you use all seven of your tiles to play a word. When this happens, you should add up the total value of your word plus any bonuses gained from Premium Tiles and then add 50 points. [15] 4 Add up each player’s scores at the end of the game. After all of the players have exhausted their tiles or cannot play any more words, add up each player’s points total.

As the score keeper adds the totals, each player should let him or her know the points value (if any) of the tiles he or she has left over. Deduct this value from each player’s points total to determine each player’s final score. [16] 5 Announce the winner. After the score keeper has added each player’s scores and deducted the values of any unused tiles, he or she may announce the winner. The person who has the highest score wins the game. Second place goes to the person with the second-highest score, and so on. Part 4 Finding People to Play With 1 Invite friends over for a friendly game. Scrabble is a fun game that is easy to learn, so it’s a great way to spend time with friends. Invite a few of your friends over for a Scrabble night. You will get lots of practice and it will make for a fun evening. 2 Join Scrabble club. Perhaps you want to play Scrabble on a weekly basis. If you don’t know many people who would be into playing Scrabble with you on such a regular basis, then a Scrabble club might be for you. Look for a club in your area or consider forming your own Scrabble club.

[17] 3 Enter a tournament. After you have developed your skills a bit and feel ready to compete with other players, try entering a Scrabble tournament. You will get to play lots of games and you will meet people who share your love of the game. [18] Part 5 Playing Scrabble Professionally 1 Play using the official Scrabble dictionary, enforcing fake or illegal words. If you're going to play professionally, such as at the National Scrabble Tournaments, you need to play by the rules. Buy an official dictionary and enforce the rules when playing with friends. You need to practice how you'll play if you're going to be a professional. You can practice against other professionals online at the Internet Scrabble Club , a sort of meeting place for serious players. [19] This can help you learn the tricky, odd words needed to play professionally, like "umiaq," "MBAQANGA," or "qi." 2 Learn tournament etiquette. A tournament is not like your classic living room Scrabble. There are rules and regulations to make sure everything goes smoothly. While you can read the entire rule-book here , the basics include: Time yourself, starting and stopping with each turn.

Recording score, for both players, after each turn. Drawing new tiles at eye level, with your palms open, looking away from the bag. The ability to call a "Hold," which gives you 15 seconds to challenge a word. Using a computer to adjudicate disputes. [20] 3 Join the North American Scrabble Players Association (NASPA). This is where the big-dogs get into tournaments. They sanction the major events, which you only have to be a member to join. If you want to be a professional, this is the way to go. If you're looking to practice in person a bit, see if your town or city has a local Scrabble Club. This is a good place to practice some tournament play before going to NASPA if you're nervous. 4 Study word lists religiously. In Scrabble, words are your weapons. So, the more you know, the better you'll be. Take the time to thumb through the dictionary once a day.

Look up an online "word of the day." Best yet, go online and search "Scrabble Word Lists." The professionals actually make flash-cards and study the lists religiously, focusing especially on "weird word lists" that can save you in a pinch. [21] You can even look up lists for one letter-- like all words that contain that pesky "X" or "Q." While the official Scrabble dictionary doesn't contain profanity or slurs, they are actually all fair game in tournament play. [22] 5 Know the power of your specific tiles. Some tiles are worth a lot more than others -- the S, for example, is a powerful way to tack on an extra letter to just about any word. Blank tiles should be saved for a huge word or scoring play, since you can use them easily. And get rid of Qs quickly, preferably on small words like "qi" or "qat" (both legal words). Just playing your tiles and scoring points is generally better than holding on for a long time to get one great word or Triple Word Score. Just keep scoring away. [23] 6 Keep track of the tiles.

Professionals actually track the tiles, keeping mental or written notes of what is left in the bag. This gets crucial as the game continues. If you're going to exchange, hoping to get a new vowel, you should know vaguely how many vowels are in the bag. If there aren't a lot of Qs, Vs, and Zs on the board, and you don't have any, you can be sure your opponent has a few (meaning you might risk opening up a Triple Word Score -- hoping they can't hit it). What are the rules for playing Scrabble in a nutshell? wikiHow Contributor In a nutshell: You cannot use names. You cannot use brands. You can only use proper spelling. You can have a time limit to make a word, but this one is completely optional. There are more advanced rules if desired, but these are the basic ones. What do you score for each of the 26 letters?

wikiHow Contributor A-1, B-3, C-3, D-2, E-1, F-4, G-2, H-4, I-1, J-8, K-5, L-1, M-3, N-1, O-1, P-3, Q-10, R-1, S-1, T-1, U-1, V-4, W-4, X-8, Y-4, Z-10. Once I've put tiles on the board, can I change my word before the next person plays? wikiHow Contributor It depends on the rules of who you are playing with. In most cases, you won't be able to change the word once you lay your tiles down. Is it legal to play a word, realize it isn't correct, pick up the tiles, and continue to play another word? wikiHow Contributor Must the first word cross the star in the middle? wikiHow Contributor Can I make multiple words in different places on the board as long as they connect to existing tiles? wikiHow Contributor No, you can only make one word in one direction in one place. Words created by intersecting letters don't count.

Who starts a new game? The winner or the loser of the last game? wikiHow Contributor Normally the winner, but if you want to be extremely generous, then it could be the loser.

Question: How many letter tiles, including the blanks, are there in a game of Scrabble?
Answer: 100